Back on the Beach
by Marla's Lost
Summary: Jack brings Juliet back to meet the survivors - can she fit in? Sayid and Sawyer need to be put in their place - Juliet is just the gal to do it!


_Season 3 Episode 16 "One of Us" was always one of my favorites so I expanded on it a bit. I love that Juliet had to hold her own coming into the survivors' camp and I wanted to bring out more Hurley. He is the happy cohesive element that keeps the group together._

Its morning and Jack is bringing Juliet back to camp along with an angry Sayid and a mistrusting Kate. Sayid is cutting a path with his machete while Jack and Juliet stay a little further behind but walking together. Jack seems to notice the urgency with which Sayid is making progress.

Juliet shrugs, "I guess its no use asking them to wait up huh?"

Jack gives her a crooked little smile and reassures her, "They'll come around. Just give them some time."

Juliet shook her head sadly, "My people kept Sayid chained to a swing-set for three days, and then I dragged Kate into the jungle, handcuffed myself to her and lied about it. How much time do you think they need?" She looked so remorseful that Jack was charmed. He smiled, "We'll be back at our beach in a couple of hours, and they'll probably be over it by then." They both laughed lightly, "You nervous?" he asked.

Juliet half smiled, "Hell yes."

It was starting to get dark and the group agreed to make camp for the night. Jack tries to explain to Kate the deal he made with Ben. They rounded up some wood for a fire but the silence and emotional distance between the two was noticeable.

While Kate and Jack were gone, Sayid took the opportunity to grill Juliet for answers to his questions about the others. Juliet understood his anger but knew that if she answered, it would only fuel the fire. Luckily, Jack returned and told Sayid to leave her alone. She was under his protection. Kate was clearly jealous and Sayid disconcerted he couldn't finish his pursue his answers.

Later that morning, Sawyer is eating his bowel of runny oatmeal made curtsey of Hurley when he sees Jack tiredly stumbling up the beach from the jungle. He growls partially in amazement, "Son of a bitch."

Sun lifts her head, "Jack?" She gets Jin's attention and motions towards the beach, "It's Jack!"

By this time, the other survivors all notice that Jack's returned and also see Kate coming up behind. Jack is surrounded by his friends while Sawyer spots Kate and sighs. Everyone is shouting and happy cries were heard from the whole group as they hug Jack, Kate and Sayid.

Sawyer and Jack shake hands, an almost brotherly gesture and then Sawyer smiles and hugs Kate passionately. Then he spots Juliet coming in after Sayid and growls angrily,

"What the hell is she doing here?!"

Juliet is just standing on the beach hugging her arms; feeling vulnerable and very exposed. The group turns from their "welcome home greeting" and looks at the terrified blonde standing all alone.

Ostracized and outcast, Juliet finds a nice spot to sit and watches the waves. Not too much later, Hurley trudges over and sits beside her.

"Hey" he says in his let's-be-friends voice.

Juliet looks over at the large man and smiles slightly, "Hey yourself." She didn't seem like an evil other and Hurley doesn't know how to act. He just puts it out there, "So. You're like one of them, huh?" Juliet does not what to get labeled as the bad guy yet and simply says, "I'm Juliet."

Hurley still feels the need to express the resentment of the group as a whole and says, "I don't remember you from the dock. You know… where you put bags on our heads? You know...after you shocked us?" He ends the question in what could be said "angry" for Hurley. Juliet attempts to soften the intensity.

She jokes, "I had the day off. Hurley is charmed and they both smile weakly. He wiggles down into the sand and prods further, "So…. I hear you're a doctor." Juliet doesn't want him to think that she and Jack are in similar fields so she explains, "I'm really more of a researcher."

Hurley is kind of confused – _researcher of what_? He opens his mouth to say something profound an all that comes out is "A-huh" Juliet hides a smile. Hurley is clearly uncomfortable because he doesn't know this pretty blonde lady and she don't look like an evil "other".

Juliet coughs lightly, "They sent you over to keep an eye on me?" Hurly nods in the affirmative. She says, "Okay."

Hurley tries to clarify why the group is so intolerant to her presence "The last one of you guys that came over here. Ethan. He kidnapped Claire and…and Charlie got upset." Hurley motioned his head towards the trees. "We buried him over there." Juliet wondered if that was some kind of threat from the big man.

"Hurley," Juliet began, "May I can you Hurley?" She smiles at the curly mopped head. Hurley looked away slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, you can call me Hurley."

Juliet laid a cool palm on Hurley's arm. "Hurley, I need a friend. I only really know Jack and Kate truly hates me. Sayid wants to torture me and your Mr. Sawyer over there would like to see me dead."

Hurley looked back and caught a glimpse of a typical Sawyer sneer. "Why would you want me as a friend? I mean I'm bad luck."

Juliet remembered what she read from his file. "I think you are an extremely lucky guy. You won the lottery right?"

Hurley furrowed his brow. "How did you know that?" Juliet knew this was coming and smiled softly. "Ben. Ben had files on all of the Oceanic 815 survivors. He was not a nice man." Hurley agreed. "What else do you know about me?" _This was going to be a good conversation!_

Later that evening Jack tries to convince the survivors to trust Juliet. Sun refuses and Jack lets everyone know that she was abandoned by the others. Charlie wanted to know where they went. Jack explains, "I told you. I don't know."

Sawyer, recalling the taser incident is still suspicious. "Well….maybe we better ask her." Jack knows that Sawyer doesn't believe him. "Sawyer, she doesn't know either."

Sawyer says, almost cruelly, "Well, here's a wacky idea. Let's stick our resident Iraqi on her. Let him do what he does and then see what she says."

Sayid seems aghast at the suggestion that he would torture a woman (although interrogating her was not unreasonable.) "No, I don't do that anymore" "Sawyer snorted, "Well ain't that convenient?"

Sayid looks at Jack, "But I don't trust her Jack. If she's so innocent, why won't she answer my questions?

Jack asks the group to give Juliet some time – if he trusts the young woman; shouldn't that be good for the group as a whole? Sayid doesn't feel comfortable with Jacks analogy.

Desmond came over to the group asking why Locke didn't return. Jack replied angrily, "He went with them. Right after he destroyed the sub. THE SUB that was gonna take me off this Island!"

Hurley couldn't believe his ears. "What?" _Dude, a freaking submarine? Hello!!!_ _Why didn't Juliet tell him there was a submarine? _

Sawyer looked at Juliet sitting down the beach. "They were gonna let you go?" He turned and looked at Jack who simply replied, "Yeah."

Sawyer was still distrustful, "Said who?"

Jack replied, "Ben."

Sawyer remembered the nasty little man. "Ben. The man whose life YOU saved." Kate warned Sawyer to back off. Sawyer continued, "You should have let that bug-eyed bastard die."

Jack gestured to Juliet sitting alone in the near dark. "He did it for us." Sawyer sneered, "Sounds like he did it for himself."

Jack was getting tired of trudging thru the jungle for two days, sleeping on the ground and tired of Sawyer's attitude. "Something you wanna ask me Sawyer?"

James lifted his chin towards the pretty blonde. "Yeah Jack. I wanna know why you're fighting everyone one of _us_ and sticking up for one of _them_."

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Look, I spent every moment over there trying to find a way off this Island….." He looked at his friends, "I was trying to help all of us. I was trying to get rescued"

Jacks little speech was interrupted when Clair began spitting up blood. Charlie hollered for Jack to come look at Claire. Jack asks Charlie to put her head back. "How long has she been like this?" Charlie wasn't sure. "Er, she started feeling bad this morning." They carried the slight woman to her tent. "Before we got back was she showing any symptoms at all?" Charlie assured Jack she was fine.

Jack continued his examination, "What about water, has she been drinking enough water?" _Could this be dehydration_? Charlie declared she had been. "Alright, keep that head up" _Classic bloody nose_?

Juliet came up from the beach and stopped when she found Sun. "What happened to her?

Jin said something not so nice in Korean and Sun translated. "He said, 'what do you care?"

Juliet spied Kate walking back to her tent. "Kate! Kate! I need your help. I need you to go and get Jack." Kate was not happy with her rival for Jack's attention, "Look, he's busy right now."

Juliet didn't want to beg the brunette. "Please, I have to talk to him." Kate folded her arms, "You want tell me why you need Jack?"

Juliet explained, "Because I think I know what's wrong with Claire." Kate didn't believe her. "Why?" Juliet felt sick as she said this, "Because I did it to her."

Sayid and Sawyer watched as Kate lead Jack to where Juliet was standing. Sawyer says, "Giving you a bad feeling in your stomach?" Sayid nods. Sawyer says in a low voice, "Yeah, me too."

Juliet explained her research in simple terms and how she created a medication to hopefully keep Claire safe. She told Kate how many pregnant women had died except for Claire. Not quite wanting to know the results, asked what Juliet did to Claire.

"Even though Claire didn't conceive on this Island, we found that her symptoms were consistent with previous mothers so we tried to save her life. She was our control case. I had developed a serum that I thought would reverse what was happening to her pregnancy and Ethan was administering the injections. But then, you found out that he wasn't on the plane."

Kate felt ill as she remembered finding Charlie near death from strangulation and her dear friend wandering the jungle with no memory of what happened to her. Juliet continued. "He kidnapped her, on his own. That was never the plan. Look, I know how this sounds, but without those injections, Claire would have died. Without the serum, she's going into a form of withdrawal, and if I don't treat her quickly, her immune system could shut down entirely. Jack! I can fix this. I just need the serum. Ethan kept a stash of medical supplies near the caves where you used to live. If I go right now I can be back before it's too late."

Kate looked skeptical and even more so when Jack told the fertility doctor "Do it. Get moving.

Juliet went into the jungle to retrieve the serum, not realizing she was being followed by Sayid and Sawyer. Juliet finds a marked tree with a symbol and reaches into the bushes and pulls out a case. She tries to open it and Sayid comes out from behind the tree, "Step away from the case!"

Juliet looks up at his serious face, "Listen to me Sayid."

Sayid would not budge. "Step back." It was an order. Juliet wiped her hair from her face. "It's full of medical supplies. They're for Claire. Jack knows all about it."

Sawyer steps up next to Sayid. Juliet knows he's a smart ass and now more than ever, "Jack ain't here right now is he?" Sawyer bends over and opens the case but is disappointed to find out it really was medical supplies." He grumbles in his throat. _Now wasn't this fun?_

Juliet reconfirmed her statement from earlier. "I'm telling you the truth." Neither of the men was totally convinced; it couldn't be this easy. Sayid reminds her of a previous conversation. "You said earlier, if you told me everything you knew, I'd kill you. I'm going to test the validity of that statement."

Sawyer leans in and translates, "He means talk."

Juliet is getting frustrated that these idiots were wasting precious time. "We don't have time for this."

Sawyer flashed his dimples. "We cleared our schedules. We got all the time in the world."

Juliet had enough. This was it. In a low, threatening voice she launched a tirade that would silent the dynamic duo completely. "You know it's interesting, that you two are now the camp's moral police…. I'm curious, Sayid, how long was it before you told everyone on that beach exactly how many people you've tortured in your life. Do they know about Basra?

And I'm sure the first thing you did when you got here, James, was to gather everyone in a circle, and tell them about the man you shot in cold blood the night before you got on the plane….So why don't we just skip the part where you two pretend to be righteous. I'm taking that medication back to Claire. And you're gonna let me. Because if she doesn't get it, she's gonna die. And the last thing, that either of you need right now, is more blood on your hands."

Both men were shocked that she called them out. Leaving them stuttering in her wake, Juliet took the case and went back to the beach.

Back in Claire's tent, Jack watches as Juliet administers the serum. She smiles at Jack, "We should see results in a few hours."

Jack warns her, "Juliet. If this doesn't work, if something happens to her; I'm not going to be able to protect you anymore. You'll be on your own."

Juliet looked over Jack's head; Hurley was waiting outside the tent with Charlie smiling at Juliet. "I'm already on my own Jack." _Yet_, _I have a friend in Hurley. _She smiled back at him.

The next morning Claire wakes up to find Charlie holding her hand and Aaron. She's feeling better and looks better. Juliet's serum worked and Charlie's happy. Hurley feels better about liking the lady doctor.

Hurley sees Jack helping Juliet set up a camp. Jack brings over some supplies. "Got a tarp" and he deposits it in her arms. "Here are a couple of blankets and a couple of airline pillows. It's not much, but it should get you started." Jack points to a shaded lean-to that looked abandoned. "Everyone says it will be okay if you set up camp there for now."

Juliet thanked Jack. He looked at the group and said, "They're good people. They're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But, eventually they're gonna need some answers."

Juliet replied, "Why don't you? You keep talking about them. Why don't I ever have to explain myself to you?"

Jack answers honestly, "You were there. You were standing right next to me when that submarine exploded. In that moment, I saw it in your eyes. You wanna get off this Island more than anything else in the world. That makes you one of us." Jack smiles and walks up the beach nodding to Hurley as they passed each other.

Juliet sobs quietly and is comforted by Hurley's big arm around her shoulder. "Don't cry Juliet – I'll help you get your camp set up and make some new friends." A tear slips down her cheek and she smiles tremulously, "I'd like that Hurley. You are a good man."

Hurley felt his chest expand with pride. On this beach, he was the hero of the group. Keeper of the secrets and friend of the friendless he was Super-Hugo.


End file.
